German congress would like self-driving cars to possess black boxes similar to airplanes

After two verified crashes — related to Tesla Autopilor — within the United States, and also a fatality, German congress is preparing legislation which would require car manufacturers to incorporate a black box for automobiles.

Typically linked to airplanes, the suggested black box will record whenever a self-driving system was involved, if the car requested the driver to retake driving tasks and whenever a person had taken control or otherwise.

The purpose of the laws would certainly help both car manufacturers, specialists and authorities, to determine who's accountable in case of a self-driving car accident.

Volvo and Mercedes-Benz already have stated they are going to accept obligations for the actions of their cars while in self-driving driving mode.

I believe, however, merely realizing if the system had been involved or otherwise defintely won't be the sole factor useful to decide responsibility or fault.

Let's say, for instance, the driver did not had the needed service or maintenance carried out on the car so the self-driving system fails because of this?

Although it now seems clear that law makers will have to rein in manufacturers like Tesla from acting negligently with its technology, I also have concerns of any laws written affecting selv-driving tech might be designed without having an extensive knowledge of the way the systems work.

For example, combined with the black box concept, Alexander Dobrindt (the German Transport Ministe) additionally wants laws to contain language which allows the driver to consider but not focus on traffic, but also demands them to stay in the driver seat allowing them to intervene in the event of an emergency.

It really isn't realistic to count on someone to change from napping to evasive driving within a moment.